Roundabout.



PATENTED JAN. 10, 1905.

J. M. TAYLOR. ROUNDABOUT.

APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 4, 1904.

I will a nuuuuuua'un W%ESSES= UNITED STATES Patented January 10, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. TAYLOR, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AERIAL CIRCUIT PLEASURE WHEEL OOMPAN Y, OF

PORATION OF NEBRASKA.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, A COR- ROUNDABOUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,568, dated January 10, 1905.

Application filed March 4:, 1904. Serial No. 196,569. P

T (LZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs M. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nel braska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roundabouts, which I have designated as Aerial Circuit Pleasure- IVheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in roundabouts.

The purpose of the invention is to provide means for carrying passengers in a sinuous route about a common center, the passengers I 5 occupying seats on suitably-supported carriers which are caused to move in opposite directions at the same rate of speed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a round- 2 about or aerial circuit pleasure-wheel con structed in accord with my invention, the section being taken on the line w a of Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in section.

In the accompanying drawings, A refers to 2 5 a centrally-located main driving-shaft having beneath a floor A means for driving the shaft, and said shaft carries at suitable elevations sprocket-wheels a and a, about which may pass chains or belts K and L, which engage 3 suitablyplaced pulleys on shafts having sprockets with which the chains H and I engage. Below the floor A there is secured a sinuous continuous track B,-and suspended or secured to a roof or ceiling C there is a track which is so maintained that the curved portion will be out of line with the track below. For instance, the concave portion of one track will be offset by the convex portion of the other track, the tracks crossing each other 4 on different vertical planes. The upper track B has a horizontal projecting portion and an upturned web 6, and with the upper and lower edges of the web there engage trucks B preferably made up of a plurality of upper and lower wheels to engage the web, and from these trucks there depend rods or posts D, carrying seats (Z and below the seats foot-rests (Z.

E refers to posts or uprights which carry seats 6 and foot-rests 6.

At suitable points alternating with the track 5 B are supports F for sprocket-wheels f, the sprocket-wheels engaging a chain 1, located or maintained above the track B, and to this chain the trucks B*, which engage the lower track, are attached in any suitable manner, and motion is imparted to these chains from the main driving shaft or shafts.

.A floor or platform A is located above the sprocket-wheels a f and the chain I, such floor or platform having therethrough a slotor way which corresponds or is in line with the opening or slot through the ceiling and the track The seat-carriers D, which are suspended from the trucks B pass through the slot or way and are guided thereby. The floor or 5 platform A is also provided with aslot or way which corresponds as to position with the chain I and track B, and the seatcarriers E pass through such slot.

The seat supports or carriers D are caused 7 to move in one direction by the chain H, the gears therefor being driven from the chain or belt L. The chain 1, located below the floor A, engages suitable gears, which are driven by a chain or belt K, so that the chain I travels in an opposite direction from the chain H, moving the seat-carriers D and E in opposite directions.

From the ceiling C there depends a series shafts G, having sprocket-wheels g, which 30 engage the upper chain H and causes the same to follow the track B.

By the arrangement shown I provide two sets of passenger carriers or seats, which are moved in opposite directions and are con- 5 stantly passing each otherin their travel, and as the seat-supports move at the same rate of speed they can never meet at any intersecting point.

In practice the main driving-wheels and 9 shafts may be supported on ball-bearings, and l I do not limit myself to any particular form of gearing or trucks, as the same may be modified in accordance with the size, location, and capacity of the structure.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a roundabout, upper and lower sinuous tracks, chains supported in line with the tracks, trucks which engage the tracks and are engaged by the chains, a ceiling having an opening therethrough which corresponds with the upper track, a floor having an opening therethrough in line with the opening through the ceiling and a second opening through the floor corresponding with the track beneath the floor, seat-carriers attached to the upper tracks the lower ends thereof being passed through the opening in the floor, and other seat-carriers which project upward through the opening through the floor, and means for driving the seat-carriers in opposite directions.

2. In a roundabout, a continuous overhead sinuous track-support, a truck for engagement with the upper and lower edges of the track carried by the track-support, a chain, means for supporting the chain and driving the same, pendent seat-carriers attached to the trucks and to the chain, and a guideway for the lower ends of the seat-carriers which corresponds with the track, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

J AMES M. TAYLOR.

Vitnesses:

ETI-IAN C. WoLooTT, GEO. F. WITTURN. 

